As was stressed at the Symposium in Roma celebrating its centennial,
supporting and fostering solidarity, connections, exchanges and
collaborations around mathematics education has been a central mission
of ICMI since its creation. In the last decade, ICMI has been
especially active in that direction, launching collaborative projects
such as the Pipeline Study or the Klein Project with its mother
institution IMU, collaborating with IASE (International Association
for Statistics Education) for ICMI Study 18 devoted to statistics
education and with ICIAM (International Council for Industrial and
Applied Mathematics) for ICMI Study 20 devoted to the educational
interfaces between mathematics and industry, creating a new format of
Affiliate Group, new regional networks such as AFRICME in Anglophone
Africa and EMF, the Francophone Mathematics Space, renewing its links
to UNESCO. This renewal, which began with the collaboration in the
design and circulation all around the world of the successful
exhibition : "Experiencing Mathematics !", has been more recently
attested by the role played by the ICMI Community in the production of
the document just published by UNESCO and entitled "Les défis de
l’enseignement des mathématiques dans l’éducation de base"
(http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0019/001917/191776F.pdf) whose
translation in different languages is being organized. As this
document makes clear, for taking up the challenge of quality
mathematics education for all, the key challenge for basic mathematics
education, we are not deprived from resources, but as this document
makes also clear, the reinforcement of solidarities and collaborations
in a diversity of ways is essential.

IACME (Interamerican Committee on Mathematics Education), the first
ICMI regional organization, is preparing the celebration of its 50th
anniversary next June in Brazil and Edward Jacobsen who has played a
key role in the collaboration between ICMI and UNESCO has been just
awarded the Luis Santaló Medal by IACME. ICMI and IMU are launching a
new program, the "Capacity and Networking Program" directed to teacher
educators in the developing world, with the support of UNESCO, ICIAM,
and CIMPA (International Centre of Pure and Applied Mathematics) whose
first realization will take place next September in Mali. These are
two more reasons reinforcing my conviction that the values it
cultivates make ICMI a key organization for nurturing and fostering
the necessary solidarities and collaborations around mathematics
education worldwide.

Michèle Artigue, past President of ICMI, artigue@math.jussieu.fr

2. ICMI is on Facebook

ICMI is now alive and active on Facebook under the name "Icmi
Mathematical Instruction". If you want to know the latest updates of
the ICMI website, the latest about ICMI activities or details about
the site visit a delegation of the ICMI Executive Committee did to
Durban, South Africa, to select the site for ICME-13, 2016, you should
ask to be our friend in Facebook. We uploaded some pictures and videos
of the site visit, and we will do the same for the two other site
visits still to be done (to Hamburg, Germany and to Prague, Czech
Republic).

become friends of the ICMI Facebook account ; you just have to search
for "Icmi Mathematical Instruction".

All this can also be done from the ICMI main webpage, choosing the
options on the lower right corner :
http://www.mathunion.org/ICMI/
Please tell all people interested in your networks.

Jaime Carvalho e Silva, Secretary-General of ICMI, jaimecs@mat.uc.pt

3. ICME-12 is here : look

The ICME-12 webpage has been revamped in preparation for the launching of the
second announcement. Be attentive, it will be out shortly.
In the meantime look ate the revamped ICME-12 webpage
http://www.icme12.org/
and see which will be the Congress timetable (somewhat different from
previous ones), how the scientific program will be organized, how the
grants to
delegates from non-affluent countries to attend the ICME-12 will be
administered, and who will need a visa to enter South Korea, etc.

Jaime Carvalho e Silva, Secretary-General of ICMI, jaimecs@mat.uc.pt

4. Topic Study Groups for ICME-12

The Topic Stydy Groups (TSG) for ICME-12 have been announced on the
ICME-12 webpage :
http://www.icme12.org/
Two of the TSG have already issued their call for papers that can be found on
the ICMI website on a special area on the front page of the ICMI
website. All the other call for papers and announcements will be posted
there.
Please visit the ICMI webpage and the ICME-12 webpage to be sure
not to miss important information.
This is the list of the TSGs and their 2 co-chairs ; the rest of the
team members will be posted shortly on the ICME-12 webpage.

TSG 34 : The role of mathematical competitions and other challenging
contexts in the teaching and learning of mathematics
Co-chairs : Maria de Losada (Columbia), mariadelosada@gmail.com, Ali
Rejali (Iran) a_rejali@cc.iut.ac.ir

TSG 35 : The history of the teaching and learning of mathematics
Co-chairs : Fulvia Furinghetti (Italy) furinghetti@dima.unige.it,
Arlete de Jesus Brito(Brazil) arlete@rc.unesp.br

Contrary to past ICME practice, Discussion Groups for ICME-12 will be
created in response to a proposal submitted by a group of up to five
persons representing a diverse region of the world.
As their name suggests, Discussion Groups (DGs) are designed to gather
Congress participants who are interested in discussing, in a genuinely
interactive way, certain challenging, controversial or emerging issues
and dilemmas of interest to an international or regional audience. The
focus of DGs should be distinct from the subjects covered in the Topic
Study Groups (TSG) (see Topic Study Groups for a listing of the TSGs
for ICME 12) but could discuss a specific issue in greater detail than
that of a TSG. Each DG will be allocated two time slots of 90 minutes
each during the Congress.

A proposal should include
1. Description of the background and expertise of the proposed
organizers
2. Detailed description of the topic including anticipated aims
and a rationale for the topic
3. Key questions and issues for the DG to consider
4. A precise description of the anticipated structure that will
be used to manage the discussion during the two sessions, taking into
account there will be no oral presentations in a DG except
introductions by the organizers of the group to provide the background
and framework for the discussion.

Application forms are available on the website (http://icme12.org).
Members of the organizing team must conform to the ICME custom that a
person may only play one major (TSG, DG, Survey Team, Panel, plenary
and regular lecture) and one minor role (poster presentation & other
forms of contribution to the scientific program) at ICME. Note that
proposing a DG will be considered a major role. Proposals should be
received by the International Program Committee (IPC) by June 30,
2011. Proposals will be reviewed in accordance to the relevance of the
topic to an international audience, the diversity and expertise of the
proposed organizing team, and the format proposed for the discussion.
Proposers will be notified of acceptance by August 15, 2011.

Tasks for Organizing Teams (OT)
The OT will be expected to :
1. Set up and maintain the DG web page
Before the congress, the discussion group organizing team will post
their page at the ICME-12 web site (http://icme12.org) including
contributions that define, limit, and/or present basic premises,
theoretical considerations, research findings, viewpoints and facts
that should be accounted for if a fruitful discussion is to be
attained. Prior to the congress, participants can send individual
contributions to the organizers for consideration as additional
background information and may raise questions or participate in an
exchange of ideas through the web site.
2. Produce a progress report by December 30, 2011
3. Submit a final version of the DG presentation to be included
in the Final program booklet. The final version must be sent to the
Local Organizing Committee by April 10th, 2012. This description for
the Final Program booklet should be between one and two pages (700 to
1,400 words) with the following :
a) Name of DG and composition of the organizing team
b) General description of the program for this DG ; that is the aims,
scope, list of main questions it
addresses, the rationale which guided the OT in arriving at the
program, and so on.
c) The program of the DG, that is, the manner in which the discussion
is organized and distributed in the two sessions.
4. Organize and manage the DG sessions during the Congress
5. Produce a final report for the ICME-12 Proceedings
6. Deadline summary :
June 30, 2011 Proposal submission
August 15, 2011 Notification of acceptance
December 30, 2011 Progress report
April 10, 2012 Final version of the DG program submitted to
Local Organizing Committee

An IPC liaison will be appointed for each DG. The role of the IPC
liaison officer is to support and be an important resource on how a DG
works. Another source for information and guidance in planning a DG
are the websites of recent ICMEs (see www.icme11.org and
www.icme10.dk).

Thank you for your willingness to contribute to the success of
ICME-12. We are looking forward to an energetic exchange of ideas and
information through the Discussion Groups.

Hee-chan Lew, Vice Chair of the LOC and Chair of the Congress
Subcommittee, hclew@knue.ac.kr

6. IACME awards the Luis Santaló Medal to Ed Jacobsen

The Comité Interamericano de Educación Matemática CIAEM (Interamerican
Committee on Math Education IACME), affiliate organization of the
International Commission on Mathematical Instruction, is pleased to
announce that the first awardee of the Luis Santaló Medal will be Ed
Jacobsen of the United States. The medal will be presented to Dr.
Jacobsen in the opening ceremonies of the XIIIth Interamerican
Conference on Mathematics Education, which will be held from June
26-30, 2011, in Recife, Brazil :
http://www.cimm.ucr.ac.cr/ocs/index.php/xiii_ciaem/xiii_ciaem

On this first occasion the Luis Santaló Medal is awarded to Edward
Carl Jacobsen for his generous solidarity, valued support activities
and friendship with IACME during many decades, particularly when he
was working in the central office of UNESCO in Paris, France.

Edward Carl Jacobsen
Before retiring to the forests of Wisconsin, USA, Ed was responsible
for Mathematics Education at UNESCO from 1976 to 1992. He directed the
publication of eight volumes of Studies in Mathematics Education,
which considered Mathematics Education from an international
perspective. He participated on many International Program Committees
for International Conferences on Mathematics Education and reoriented
the cooperation of UNESCO to regional commissions of the International
Commission on Mathematical Instruction such as IACME. Ed received a
Masters degree in Mathematics from the University of Wisconsin and a
Ph.D. from the University of Kansas. He was a professor at Robert
College in Turkey (today Bogaziçi Üniversitesi). He began his work for
UNESCO in 1969 and worked in the faculties of education at Nairobi
University and University of Botswana, Lesotho and Suaziland before
moving in 1996 to the main offices of UNESCO in Paris. Ed was
vice-president of IACME from 1995 to 1999.

The cooperation between ICMI and UNESCO
ICMI Bulletin No. 34 - June 1993

Luis Santaló Medal
The name of Luis Santaló (1911-2001) was chosen because of his
extraordinary career as a mathematician and educator. Among his many
accomplishments is that he was a pioneer in integral geometry, a
complex area of mathematics that combines more classical geometry with
modern differential calculus. In 1993 he was awarded the Prince of
Asturias Prize for Scientific Research and in 1996 the Order of
Alfonso the Wise. The Generalitat of Catalonia presented him with the
Narcís Monturiol Medal for Science in 1984 and the St. George’s Cross
(Creu de Sant Jordi) in 1994. He was a teacher for many generations
and a point of reference for many Latin American Math Educators. He
was on the Board of IACME in 1966 (when IACME II was held in Lima) and
IACME’s President from 1972 to 1979.More information can be found on a
special web page created by IACME :
http://www.cimm.ucr.ac.cr/luissantalo
The medal will be presented to individuals who have contributed
significantly to the development of IACME across their lifetimes.

It is our sad duty to inform that Filippo Spagnolo, Vice-President of
CIEAEM, an Affiliate Organization to ICMI, passed away.
Filippo Spagnolo (born 29.7.1948) was Associate Professor at the
Department of Mathematics and Informatics of the University of
Palermo, Italy. He got his Ph. D. in Mathematics Education in 1995 at
the Université de Bordeaux I ("Les Obstacles épistemologiques : Le
Postulat d’Eudoxe-Archimede") under the supervision of Guy Brousseau.
Since 1997 he was "Maître de Conference" of "Science de l’Education"
by France’s Ministry of Education. He was the coordinator of the Group
of Research on Mathematics Learning and Teaching ( G.R.I.M. - Gruppo
di Ricerca sull’Insegnamento/Apprendimento delle Matematiche,
Dipartimento di Matematica dell’Università di Palermo, Italy) since
1979. Since 1999 he cooperated with University of Bratislava to follow
the Ph.D. in Mathematics Education. Since 1999 he was a member of
Scientific Board of International group "The Mathematics Education
into the 21st Century Project".

He was Editor in Chief of the journal "Quaderni di Ricerca in
Didattica", G.R.I.M. since 1990, Palermo, Italy. He was a member of
the Editorial Board of "Mediterranean Journal for Research in
Mathematics Education", Cyprus Mathematical Society, of "Canadian
Journal of Science Mathematics and Technology Education", University
of Toronto, and of "Acta Didactica Universitatis Comenianae
Mathematics", University Slovakia.

His areas of research included :
Modelling of Teaching/Learning training phenomena in Mathematics Education :
A classification of epistemological obstacles in mathematics
Multicultural approach in mathematics education with contributions
of history of mathematics, Epistemology, Natural Language, Semiotic
approach in mathematics and mathematics communication.
A statistical instruments of research in mathematics education

SIEMAT III - The Third International Seminar on Mathematics Education,
Post-Graduation Programme of Mathematics Education
at Bandeirante University of São Paulo, Brazil, June 21-25, 2011
http://www.uniban.br/siemat/

ICTMA 15 : 15th International Conference on the Teaching of
Mathematical Modelling and Applications
Melbourne, Australia, July 14-19, 2011
http://www.ictma15.edu.au/

FAMA - Family Math for adult learners international conference :
"Family and communities in and out of the classroom : ways to improve
mathematics’ achievement", Barcelona, Spain, July 23, 2011
http://www.mathforlive.net/fama_Conference.php

3rd International Realistic Mathematics Education Conference
The Design and Use of Learning Progressions in Mathematics Education
University of Colorado at Boulder, USA, September 23 - 25, 2011
http://cucs.colorado.edu/confreg/rme2011

ICREM5 - The 5th International Conference on Research and Education in
Mathematics
Institut Teknologi Bandung, Indonesia, October 22-24 2011
http://www.math.itb.ac.id/ icrem5

CARN Conference 2011 (Collaborative Action Research Network)
Bringing a different world into existence
Action research as a trigger for innovations
Vienna, Austria, November 4-6, 2011
http://ius.uni-klu.ac.at/misc/carn/

I first met Alan some thirty years ago, on my first trip to the United
Kingdom as a fully fledged academic. At the time Alan was working at
Cambridge University and, among his other activities, was editor of
Educational Studies in Mathematics. For me it was a memorable visit -
not only for the many insights I gained into mathematics education but
also for the warmth and generosity with which I was received at the
Bishop home - an experience enjoyed by many other academics from
around the world both before and after my visit.
Many years have passed since that first meeting and we remain in
regular contact. During a recent conversation I asked Alan to reflect
on experiences which shaped his career as a mathematics educator.
Excerpts from that conversation are the bones of the story below.
Becoming a mathematics educator - a story of context and people

In the beginning...
The choice of Southampton University as the place to embark on his
undergraduate degree turned out to be critical. It was there Alan met
Professor Wilfred (Bill) Cockcroft who served as his tutor in
mathematics for three years. Bill, Alan reminisced, was not only a
fellow jazz enthusiast, but a fine mathematician with a genuine
interest in education - an interest that Alan, whose father had been a
mathematics teacher, soon shared. It was on Bill’s advice that, after
a year of teacher training in the UK, Alan, now married to Jennifer,
travelled to Harvard University where he studied with Professor Ed
Moise, a good friend of Bill Cockcroft and another influential figure
in Alan’s life. In addition to completing his MA in teaching Alan
sampled many psychology classes taught, among others, by Skinner and
Bruner. He availed himself of the rich opportunities to work and tutor
in experimental programs. Trying out the School Mathematics Study
Group (SMSG) material in school, tutoring patients in a mental
hospital, working with mathematically gifted black students in an
after school program in Boston, these are among the formative
experiences he still cherishes. "It was there I got the research bug",
he told me,
but the mathematics education research then available was very, very
skimpy. Most of what was available was work carried out by
psychologists who were using mathematics as a vehicle for studying
psychology, learning, and problems associated with learning.... It
certainly made me think what sort of research could be done as far as
mathematics education was concerned.
It was at about this time that Professor Frank Land, "another
influential figure", came into Alan’s life. In his book Language of
Mathematics Land discussed his views on visual language and visual
representations - sparking in Alan an interest in this avenue for
exploring relationships between teaching and learning. Hull
University, where Alan worked with Donald McIntyre and Land for four
years, provided the opportunity to do this. "We explored various
multivariate statistical approaches to see if they were useful for
exploring research in mathematics education ... but the emphasis on
treatments and effects did not get us closer to the core of
mathematics learning...".

Cambridge University
After completing his PhD at Hull University, Alan took up a position
at Cambridge University. As well as the many personal and professional
friendships and partnerships made during that time, Alan was a
grateful recipient of "the Cambridge context which enabled the
development of all kinds of opportunities relevant to the teaching and
learning of mathematics". The 1970s and early 1980s were years of
growth - a continuingly broadening circle of professional contacts,
attendance at national and international conferences, involvement with
PME - all well recorded elsewhere - but there were also less well
publicized developments. Throughout, the goal was unceasingly to find
out "how teaching and learning really worked in mathematics ...
including looking at children who were in difficult situations, for
example, How do you teach a blind child geometry ? ... What approaches
are best for teaching students who are deaf, ... Who are second
language learners ?" The "Cambridge context" in which he worked proved
invaluable as he searched not only for ways of making education a
researchable area, but of convincing others that teaching should not
be thought of as a "treatment" but rather an area worthy of research.
In due course Alan was eligible for a sabbatical year. The time spent
in Papua New Guinea, where he worked with Glendon Lean, singled out as
another figure of substantial influence, is remembered as a period of
particular growth and professional development. As he prepared for his
time in PNG, Alan grew increasingly dissatisfied with the deficit
models championed by psychologists in their descriptions of the lives
of the indigenous population. Much could be learnt, he felt, from the
more positive approach adopted by anthropologists in their examination
of the many skills needed, and displayed, for successful survival in a
harsh environment. But how and where were the important visualization
skills so evident among Papua New Guineans fostered in school
geometry ? What could mathematics educators learn from anthropology ?
And, more prosaically, how, at a time of limited technological
support, could he take with him to PNG materials critical for his
research but far too bulky to put in a suitcase ?

Educational Studies in Mathematics
An invitation from Hans Freudenthal to take over the editorship of
Educational Studies in Mathematics [ESM], was another career
influencing invitation that came during that year of study leave. "The
role of a good editor", Freudenthal advised Alan, "is to be welcoming
but not too much, and to be critical - but again not too much. And I
have probably erred on both counts". While, on the one hand
appreciating the free hand given by Freudenthal who recognized that
his style and mode of working were unlikely to suit his successor and
insisted that a completely new editorial board be appointed,
consolidating and expanding the role played by ESM in supporting and
publicizing research was a huge challenge. Alan set himself three
goals : to increase the range of articles published in the journal, to
increase the responsibilities of the editorial board, and to solicit
submissions widely. For example, participants in the first two ICME
conferences were actively targeted. Submissions in French were still
welcome but those written in German were beyond the skills of the new
editor and the newly appointed board. When, a decade or so later,
Kluwer took over from Riedel as publishers of the journal and decided
to increase the volume from four to six issues a year Alan decided it
was time to pass on the editorial baton - but that story is,
unfortunately, beyond the scope of this article.

Monash University
In 1992 Alan left Cambridge to take up a chair in mathematics
education at Monash University. Professionally and personally, both
Alan and Jennifer felt, the time was right to embrace new challenges
and research opportunities in Australia’s vibrant multi-cultural
society. For Alan it became a time for rekindling projects considered
or begun on earlier visits, forging new research collaborations with
colleagues not only in Australia, but also in South East Asia, in New
Zealand, and Papua New Guinea, setting up new publication ventures -
in short being an active and supportive contributor to Australia’s
mathematics education research community. His current work centres on
values in mathematics education and what he calls "mathematics well
being".

Unfortunately space constraints dictated that I have been able to
share only a small portion of my interview with Alan. "Critical issues
in mathematics education : major contributions of Alan Bishop", edited
by Philip Clarkson and Norma Presmeg and published by Springer is an
excellent source for those wishing to know more about Alan and his
work.

2. Send an e-mail to icmi-news-request@mathunion.org with the Subject-line :
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